The service objective of the Department of Comparative Medicine is to provide comprehensive support to the faculty of the Medical School in all areas of laboratory animal expermentation. The equipment for animal housing that is requested in this application will provide sufficient caging to meet the needs of investigators for the next several years. The Experimental Surgery Section is the centralized resource for experimental surgery. Accordingly, to meet this charge, it must have the appropriate types and amounts of surgical and radiological equipment and personnel to support multidisciplinary research. Equipment for the Biohazards Suite will allow the Department to develop a resource for the safe utilization of biohazardous materials in in vivo systems. The salary support requested for technicians will enable the Department to develop a well-coordinated program for animal health and disease control. The equipment and interim salary support for technicians requested will complement the professional, technical, and animal care personnel now employed within the Department in a manner designed to provide excellence in animal care and research support for a rapidly expanding faculty.